George Michael

George Michael (25 June 1963-25 December 2016), born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, was an English pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame during the 1980s and 1990s with his sons "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Last Christmas", "Careless Whisper", and "Faith'. He was born in East Finchley, London on 25 June 1963 to a Greek Cypriot restauranteur and his half-Jewish English wife, and he was raised in Radlett, Hertfordshire. He formed the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981, and he later embarked on a successful solo career. He sold over 115 million records worldwide and achieved eight number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100. He was a prominent Labour Party voter during the 1980s, distancing himself from the Conservative Party after some people speculated that he was a Thatcherite due to his deep tan and his wealth. He later criticized the Iraq War and the War on Terror, and Michael - who came out as gay in 1998 - actively campaigned for gay rights and for HIV/AIDS patients. He was arrested for public lewdness in 1998 and was later arrested for multiple drug-related offenses, and he died of dilated cardiomyopathy in 2016 at the age of 53.